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Catholicism Week 7The Virgin Mary Part 1

I really looked forward to coming to this class, Mary is very special to Jackie and me, but for me it wasn’t always so. I was caught up with an entire camp of people that were convinced Mary was no better, or no worse, than any of us were. That being said, I did believe that there was something special about Mary, I just did not know how far to go with that. As I look back now, both to the teaching on Mary we received, and what I had read in the Bible, it seems I should have understood more about her special place in the Church. Part of the reason I think I missed some of what we are going to talk about today, is how little is in the Bible about her, compared to Jesus, Paul and Peter, just to name a few. But what is in the Bible about this virgin of all virgins is powerful, and more obvious to me now. If you add that to the Sacred Tradition of the Church concerning Mary, both Jackie and I began to see to see what prominent role she plays in our salvation story.

Right out of the box, she has an entire line of cars named after her first encounter with the angel…Fiat. And I think it is interesting that our current pope drives around in a Fiat. I don’t know if any of you picked up on that or not. But on a more serious note, she is the second most depicted, painted…sculpted…sketched person after Jesus, and the subject of millions of books, dozens of films and countless religious TV programs. Cathedrals are dedicated to her, and Catholics all over the world venerate her and pray for her intercession, as they have done down through the centuries.

Luke 1:26–38 (RSV2CE) 26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was

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greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a

son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no husband?” 35 And the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be

born will be called holy, the Son of God. 36 And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

The thing that still amazes me now that Jackie and I are Catholic is all that Mary stands for in Catholic Sacred Tradition. Bishop Barron talks about her as the “New Israel”, where the old Israel seemed to run from God and disobey at every opportunity, Mary as the New Israel does exactly what God asks her to do. The Annunciation gives us important insight into the character of God and the amazing character of Mary. Greek Mythology seems to glorify the gods raping women of the human race. There is none of that in the way God overshadows Mary, and only after the angel gives Mary the right to choose. I like the way Bishop says that Mary’s freedom and dignity are respected…and her curiosity is

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allowed as she innocently wants to know how this could all happen. Mary is known as the “New Eve”, contrasting how the first Eve tried to grasp at God, eat the forbidden fruit and become like God believing the original lie. The new Eve listened to what the angel was saying, humbled herself and simply obeyed God, showing no desire to be elevated to a god-like status. She was perfectly happy to live as the handmaiden of the Lord.

Bishop Barron brings up a good point, God gave Adam and Eve full reign in the Garden of Eden, with only one restriction…they could have and do what ever their hearts desired, with that one barrier. It is so important to understand what that restriction, what that barrier represents to you and me as we read that account at the beginning of time. Adam and Eve were created for one thing and one thing only…to be in relationship with God, to be loved by God and to love God with all their hearts. But it had to be their choice…choosing to live their lives totally dependent on God and God alone…for everything. Adam and Eve could only live a life fully alive…if that life was” in” God. That is what you and I are made for…for God to be in us…and for us to be in God. That is the very meaning of this life. Adam and Eve had to learn that reality the hard way…and Mary knew it long before Gabriel ever showed up. She chose to obey God, whatever that meant…and as the mother of the Son of God, she experienced the greatest joy and the deepest sorrow of any woman who ever lived.

Our marriages are supposed to be a picture of Christ and the Church, living life in love for each other. Jackie and I’s marriage could not survive unless each of us had not surrendered to each other. Jackie is in me, and I am in her, we truly love each other and want the best for each other. Ephesians 5:25–28 (RSV2CE) 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her,

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26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that he might present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 Even

so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

That passage in St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is a wonderful picture of Jesus and the Church, but also Jesus and each one of us here this morning. Jesus

longs to be “in” each of us and He passionately desires each of us to be “in Him” …both collectively and individually. He only wants the best for us, but too often we stubbornly think that only we can decide what is best for our lives. Total surrender to God seems week and restrictive, we are convinced that we will lose all our freedom…when its fact total surrender to God is the only kind of life that is totally free. Young Mary knew this, and she became the Mother of God. Her fiat reversed the disobedience of Eve, so that Eva became Ave…Maria. It is difficult, almost impossible, to imagine that God would humble Himself to allow a human to become His Mother. That is beyond all reason…it makes no sense. But God did exactly that.

On the next page is the floor plan of the Cathedral at Chartres, France dedicated to Notre Dame, Our Lady. This Medieval church was not only dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and believed to be where she dwelled, but its very structure was designed to outline her physical body…with a labyrinth built into the floor at the same place as Mary’s womb would be. The western rose window, that is marveled the world over, is lined up in such a way that the sunlight at a certain time of day lights up Mary’s womb built into the marble floor, symbolizing the impregnation of the Virgin Mary by the very light of God at the Incarnation. Only Catholics would do something like this. This Cathedral would be on my bucket list, if I had one.

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Bishop then takes Mary to a whole new level of understanding declaring her to be embodiment of Zion, the holy mountain of God in the eternal City of God. She represents all the great people of Israel, God’s children raised up to bring the world to the feet of God as she would bring all of us to the feet of her Son. She is the New Eve, surrendering all to God, in humble obedience. She is Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob following the lead of God and establishing a whole new race of people. She is like the prophets of old, carrying the living word of God to the people. She is like Sarah, Hannah, and Elizabeth, giving birth beyond all expectations. You can hear Mary in the Psalms and the Wisdom of the Proverbs as she contemplated the life of the Son born from her womb. She is the Queen Mother of Solomon enthroned at the right hand of her Son. She is the new Ark of the Covenant, the new and eternal covenant, carrying in her body the very presence of God, the living word, and High Priest of the City of God in Zion. You can hear her the sorrow of her pierced heart when you read the Book of Lamentations and her tender mercy in the Book of Ruth. She is the woman in the Book of Revelation with the crown of twelve stars and the moon at her feet. She is the Mother of God and our Mother too as we are baptized into the Church. Her

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last recorded words in the gospels, “Do whatever He tells you.” This is Mary…and to an ignorant Protestant like me…this was a lot, and still is a lot to take in.

John 19:26–27 (RSV2CE) 26 When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. Bishop now takes us on journey to the town of Ephesus, the traditional town of John, and for Mary after crucifixion. He shows us video of humble house that Church tradition tells us where Mary lived.

But long after Mary was assumed into heaven Ephesus was also the epicenter of a huge controversy in the Church dealing with the Nestorian heresy. In the year 431AD a Church council took place in Ephesus dealing with the very nature and person of Jesus, really going back to Jesus’ last days on this earth when He asked His disciples who do you say that I am. St. Peter’s answer that day, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God”, was still in the center of the heated debate some 400 years later. Some of that doctrine of the Church concerning who Jesus was had been

developed at the Council of Nicaea in 325 and later in Constantinople in 381. But in the 420s the Bishop of Constantinople, Bishop Nestorius, an avid disciple of the School at Antioch was spreading a doctrine that emphasized the humanity of Jesus, and downplaying His divinity. The whole argument came to a fever pitch having to do with the title of Mary, Mother of God. Nestorius wanted to replace that title with Mother of Christ and not the Mother of God. To say that God had a mother was heresy to a number of Nestorius’ followers. Cyril of Alexandria took issue with this new title for Mary and took on the Nestorian heresy nose to nose and toes to toes. The heresy was denounced

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at this Council of Ephesus, and when the townspeople heard of the decision of the council it set off a spontaneous celebration in the streets of Ephesus. Once again, the role of Mary in the Church was confirmed, she is the one bringing all people to her son, Jesus Christ, son of Mary and Son of God…perfect humanity and perfect divinity. To this day Mary continues to be called the Mother of God.

The next dogma of the Church Bishop teaches us is one I misunderstood right up until Jackie and I started RCIA. I believed, as many Protestants do to this day, the Immaculate Conception had to due with the conception of Jesus, not of Mary. Pope Pius the IX in 1854 made a proclamation for the Catholic Church that Mary was conceived without sin, sinless from the very moment of her conception. The Church had believed this article of faith all the way back to ancient times. The Bible seems to back this up with the angel’s greeting, “Hail Mary, full of grace”. The logic of this doctrine makes perfect to me now, and once again it has to do with our Jewish roots. I became convinced that infant baptism was correct when I was reminded that Jewish males were given the sign of the Covenant, circumcision, eight days after they were born. I knew baptism was the sign of the New Covenant, therefore infant baptism made perfect sense. Concerning the Immaculate Conception, I knew that the Holy of the Holies in the ancient Tabernacle and the Temple was kept pure and undefiled for the Ark of the Covenant, the very presence of God. From there it was not much of a leap of faith to see that the womb of Mary was the new Ark of the Covenant containing the Living Word and the presence of God. That Holy of Holies had to be pure and undefiled, it did not take me long to embrace the Immaculate Conception as true doctrine. Bishop goes on to explain that God’s grace is not bound by time, God is both outside and inside of time. Protestants struggle with Mary over the issue of all of us needing to be saved by grace. The Church in her wisdom acknowledges that reality, but then let’s God decide when that grace is given, in Mary’s case it was at the very moment of her conception…that is good enough for me. And it was good enough for the young girl at the town of Lourdes, France in 1858 when the little girl, Bernadette, having several encounters with Our Blessed Mother finally asked the beautiful “Lady’s” name, the answer…I am the Immaculate Conception.